THE OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR DURING THE REIGN OF MSCIWOJ (1226 - 1294) THE DUKE OF EASTERN POMERANIA

The article discusses the origin and duration of the office of the chancellor during the reign of Msciwoj II. Up to now, Polish historiography has recognised the existence of this office from the outset of the independent rule of Msciwoj over united Gdansk Pomerania until his death in 1294. Eastern Pomeranian sources, however, mention Ludger, the duke's chancellor, only in the years 1279-1285. These caesurae have inspired the authoress to take a closer look at the political circumstances in which the office in question emerged in Gdansk Pomerania. Consequently, she has linked Ludger's first appearance as chancellor with the increasingly close contacts between Pomerania and Greater Poland after the assembly in Lad, maintaining that the chancellor did not join the group of ducal officials until the convention of Kepno (1282). Duke Przemysl II, who at the time became the feudal lord of Gdansk Pomerania, adapted the hierarchy of Pomeranian offices to that of Greater Poland. The authoress connects the Pomeranian–Greater Poland relations also with the fact that after May 1285 the office of the chancellor disappeared not only from documents but from the range of Eastern Pomeranian offices, an event which she associates with a conspiracy led by Dziwan against Greater Poland. Moreover,she regards it as unfounded to acknowledge that each priest of the parish church of St. Catherine in Gdansk was the successive chancellor of Eastern Pomerania, as has been the custom in heretofore historiography. In the light of the sources, none of the later parish priests of Gdansk held the office of chancellor, while Piotr Swieca, the consecutive chancellor of Eastern Pomerania mentioned in sources from the time of Wladyslaw Lokietek, was not appointed to a Church post in Gdansk but was the praepositus of Kalisz. In her opinion, Ludger was the only chancellor of Msciwoj II, and the office itself functioned in the years 1285-1285 exclusively due to the close political relations between Pomerania and Greater Poland.